• We realize this is a little late, it’s been a crazy time around here, but here’s some photos we really wanted to share with you anyway. Page Branson created View Askew-themed Halloween pumpkin this year, and it’s really impressive! Check out the photos above. It’ll be sad when it starts to rot away, we’re sure.
• The View Askewniverse is even proving worthy in explaining dictionary terms these days, it seems. Yahoo’s “Word of the Day” was recently this:

• Wow, our recent hack even proved newsworthy on another website. We’re still naturally working to restore the more complex functionality, especially the forums, talkbacks, etc, so bear with us, we’ll of course report via the front page as things are back. As always, thanks for your patience!
• And finally, our thoughts go out to the friends and family of Run DMC rapper Jam Master Jay, who was shot and killed last week. Run DMC has come up a few times in View Askew flicks, and the band has always been a favorite of Kevin’s.

• We’re reeling from a nasty hacker attack that damanged all of the View Askew servers last week, as some of you may have noticed. Thanks to Ming and the server crew, we’ve gotten a lot of data back here, but we need your help to let us know the stuff that’s not working right now. We can clearly see that the poll topic and counter are missing, working to get that stuff back, but what else can ya see? Please let us know, and watch this story as we’ll keep you updated on the progress of bug reports and what we’ve fixed. Bear with us, though, as some of these things may take some time to be recovered, if they ever can be at all.

• Another big night for Kevin and Jersey Girl on NBC’s “The Tonight Show” is on the way — Friday, November 8th, a live remote broadcast will take place from the Jersey Girl set in New York City for the show, along with the previously taped stuff that we mentioned filming around the set in Paulsboro. We’re not sure if that will be ALL of the footage shot, but chances are that it’ll be a lot of it. This date is tentative right now, so if it changes we’ll have the info for ya right here. Until then, get the VCRs and Tivos warmed up. Should be a good one.

• A recent “Eye on Paulsboro” was filmed with a new bit from Kevin. We’re hoping to have a copy of the local public access TV show available on the site soon. The biggest news from that and from recent interviews with Kevin during the dedication of Kevin Smith Way? He claims that the film will premiere in Paulsboro, October 2003! With Kevin’s penchant for normally letting fans watch a new flick about a month before release, it’s looking more and more like our suspected November 2003 release date for JG is going to become a reality. Stay tuned!

• We received word that Wizard magazine still does have all your comic pages for their contest where you sent in pages to be judged by Kevin. He’s up to his eyeballs in Jersey Girl stuff, and just hasn’t had the time to sit down and judge the entries at this point. After Jersey Girl wraps filming in November, we assume he’ll start getting caught up with such things.
• We’re hearing apparently that that Jason Mewes flick “R.S.V.P.” is getting released on DVD sometime soon in Australia. We know it’s not available stateside, but for those of you that wanna see it, you may be able to find an import.
• The second part of Aryelle’s story regading her Jersey Girl set visit is now online over at Afflecktopia.
• Don’t forget you can now order that JoBlo movie book with the new foreword by Kevin at Amazon.com!
• Target stores have started to run television ads in their stores, promoting the December 2002 arrival of the Evening with Kevin Smith DVD. We’ll keep you posted on that one, still hoping to get our hands on an early copy.
• And finally today, Clerks: TAS fans — Nothing can kill the Grimace? Maybe it’s because he was originally quite evil! Check out the seconds answer and links from this Answer Man column.

• This may be the coolest item we’ve ever seen here at NewsAskew. Coming to the Stash and other fine comic book stores early next year…

Kevin Smith’s hetero-lifemates have made a career move and proudly display their new skills on the Jay & Silent Bob Bookends. Sculpted by Jon Matthews based on designs by animator Stephen Silver, these bookends are the sweetest thing you’ll ever see. Limited to just 1500 sets, each sculpted bookend measures roughly 4” wide, 7 1/2” tall and 6” deep. They look good solo, but put together they’ll tickle your fancy!! The bookends are sold as a set that includes one Jay and one Bob packaged in a full-color protective box. Supplies are limited and are subject to allocation based on orders received. Scheduled to ship January 2003.

Bookends…………………………..$129.00 set

• It looks like there was a great turnout for the unveiling of KEVIN SMITH WAY in Paulsboro yesterday. Friends and family were onhand as Kevin also received a key to the city from the Mayor of Paulsboro. Here’s 3 good articles that sum up the event from the Philadelphia Inquirer, Gloucester County Times, and Courier Post.

• “Chasing Kevin” will be screening at the Anthology Film Archives tomorrow night as part of their New Filmmakers series.
• J&SBSB finally has hit DVD in New Zealand and Australia. These discs include all the extras that are included in the Region 1 DVD. The disk is retailing in New Zealand for about $39.95 and is available at most DVD retail stores like Central Park Interactive and Whitcoulls. In Australia it costs about $36.95 and can be purchased online HERE.
• Jeff Anderson stopped by the WWWBoard the other day to let everyone know that his film “Now You Know” will be showing this Friday (October 25) in Greenwich, Conn. Click HERE for more information.
• This Thursday, in Albany, NY, a bar called Jillian’s on South Pearl Street is going to have a local band called Yellowdog perform, followed by a screening of Dogma! Admission is free, and it’s sure to be a great time starting at 9pm.
• And finally today, maybe Rufus was right after all. Check this story out…

• Catch a rare chance to see Vincent Pereira’s excellent “A Better Place” on the big screen — This Thursday, October 24th, Vincent Pereira will screen the film at Salisbury University in Salisbury, Maryland. The screening will be at 8:30 PM and will be followed by a Q&A with Vincent himself!

The film will be shown at 8:30 pm at the Holloway Hall Auditorium, followed immedately by the Question and Answer Session Contact soap@salisbury.edu for more info, and visit the A Better Place website http://viewaskew.com/A_Better_Place to learn more about the film.

• This one’s been around for a while now, but Mysterio was good enough to send us off a scan of their big story involving Affleck & Lopez’s wedding — On screen for “Jersey Girl”, that is. Click the scan above to check it out, and look for more scanned stuff down in NewsBites.